Undivided Attention
by RonHeartbreaker
Summary: MrDrP tries a bit harder to be there for his daughter during a crucial moment of StD.


As the father of two girls, I've always felt a bit disappointed in MrDrP's response to Kim's reaching out to him in StD. Here's how I would have preferred it to play out. Not to change the narrative arc or the denouement, but simply so that James could acquit himself a little better.

Kim Possible © Disney.

* * *

"It's about boys. Boys and...dating."

James Possible drew a deep breath and paused. "Boys? Truth be told, Kimmie, it's your mother who is the expert on boys and dating." He reached for his cellphone. "I'll just give her a quick ring."

"No, Dad," Kim responded, stepping forward and putting her hand on his. "You know how she is -- always in the middle of some critical procedure. She'll just wind up putting me on speakerphone in the O.R. With Dr. Guberman right there, too, no doubt. What a nightmare!" She shuddered just thinking about the potential for humiliation.

MrDrP frowned. "I don't understand, Kimmie-cub. Dr. Guberman is a terrific fellow. Quite an accomplished son, too – at parents' night, Guberman was saying that all the other boys on the chess team really look up to him."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Dad, _please,_ can we focus?"

"Of course, Kimmie." He motioned for her to sit on the couch opposite him. "What's wrong?"

Kim looked away. She realized she hadn't really thought through exactly how she was going to talk about this. She absently twisted a couple of strands of hair while considering her next line. "It's about…the prom, Dad."

James swallowed hard.

Kim decided the best way to handle it was just to get it all out there.

"Nobody's asked me, yet, you know," she went on, the words running into each other in her haste to get them out. "To go. Nobody's asked me to go. I don't know why. Bonnie's riding me because I don't have a date yet and she says it's because guys are intimidated by my world-saving."

"And we listen to Bonnie because?" asked James.

Kim smiled. "I know, that's exactly what Monique said. But, ok, let's forget about Bonnie. Still, who you take to the prom makes a statement. And my statement is..."

She waved at the wall by the stairwell, taking in with a sweep of her hand the various photos of her and Ron that adorned it.

James followed her gesture. His brow furrowed. "So you are going again with Ronald? I don't see the problem. He's a very nice young man. And like a brother to you. Already you do almost everything together. You certainly seemed happy to be his date for Middleton Days. Why not junior prom?"

Kim sighed in exasperation. "First of all, Dad, for Middleton Days, I was under the control of an emotion-manipulating moodulator which was developed by a ferociously unethical scientist and which got accidentally stuck to the back of my neck during a fight with Drakken and Shego."

She took a breath to continue but noticed her father's raised eyebrow.

"I'll fill you in another time, Dad – please just take my word for it."

He nodded.

"Anyway," Kim went on, "we're not in elementary school any more, where Ron and I could just pal around all the time. This is _prom_, Dad. Is it so bad to want a date-date? Bonnie's going with the quarterback, and Tara's going with the captain of the basketball team, and…well, they'll look back at their prom pictures in the yearbook and know it was a special night. And I'll look back and…probably still have indigestion from going to Bueno Nacho afterwards."

James regarded Kim for a moment.

"Kimmie-cub, if you'll allow me: of course you want prom to be special. That I can understand. And if you want to be sad because nobody's asked you, or because there isn't romance in your _very __young_ life, well, I understand that too, though, as you know, I'm in principle opposed to discussing, let alone seeing you in the company of, 'hotties.'"

It was Kim's turn to raise an eyebrow, but James plowed on.

"The thing is, it sounds like your unhappiness with the situation isn't so much about your wanting a relationship. It sounds like the source of your agitation is how people will think of you if you go with Ron. That he's not high enough on the, I don't know, the high school food chain. Is that right?"

Kim looked away for a split second. "Food chain? Ha, ha. Ha! Food chain!" She snorted dismissively. "What a silly concept, no of course, that would be so shallow…heh," she concluded, uncertainly.

James leaned forward. "Kimberly Anne, I may be your father but I was also once in high school, and I can certainly remember what it was like, wanting to be popular, always competing – what are you wearing, who are your friends, who are you dating." He sighed. "I don't suppose it would help for me to tell you that, 25 years down the line, it all seems so small and inconsequential in retrospect?"

Kim shook her head somberly.

"Okay, then, at the risk of sounding like a real square, I'll just say this: your mother and I are proud of you every single day, not because of your world-saving, or your terrific grades, but because you've always been true to yourself. Well, except for that time with the Centurion Project, I guess, but I suppose we can consider that the exception to the ru…"

James paused when he saw his daughter's jaw growing increasingly set.

"Back to the point. Oh yes, there is a point," he said, anticipating another skeptical eyebrow raise from Kim. "I'm a rocket scientist, Kim. My element is equations and calculations, not emotions and relationships. But the basic rules are the same: you have to know what's important. You can control for a lot – you _have _to control for as much as you can – but you can't necessarily control for everything. So you have to make smart decisions, even in the absence of all the data."

Kim stared at him, trying to make sense of the metaphor.

James sighed. "Who knows, maybe some prince charming will ride out of nowhere to invite you to the prom. But if that doesn't happen, well, do you really want to feel bad about yourself because you decided to go with your best friend? What's the alternative? Staying home and missing out on it entirely? Trying to find someone else to go with because Bonnie finds Ronald wanting?"

James leaned forward again and took Kim's hand.

"I think that if you just think about it a bit, you'll realize what makes sense for you. Go with Ronald, go with someone else, don't go. Whatever it is, as long as you make the decision that's true to you, your mother and I will only, always, think the world of you, no matter what the food chain says."

He saw Kim's eyes watering a bit and harrumphed to break up the heavy mood.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to the game. Are we, you know," and he searched for a word, "uh, simpatico?"

Kim smiled and leaned in, surprising James with a long, tight hug. "Yes, Dad, we're…simpatico."


End file.
